Strained health systems, funding cuts, and vaccine shortages are deepening the crisis
Freetown, Sierra Leone, 12 June 2025—A sharp rise in Mpox cases in Sierra Leone and Liberia is placing immense strain on frontline health workers, many of whom are operating without adequate protection due to a global shortage of Mpox vaccines. Since January 2025, Sierra Leone has recorded more than 3,900 infections and 20 deaths, while Liberia has reported over 870 suspected cases across 25 districts, according to national health authorities.
“Health workers are stretched thin and are at-risk of contracting the virus due to their exposure as frontline staff. They are doing the best they can with dwindling resources,” says Sylvester Epiagolo, CARE’s Director of Health Programs in Sierra Leone. “The best way to break the chain of transmission is through sustained investment in community engagement and public awareness. But we also need to protect health workers now with vaccines — their safety is critical to containing this outbreak.”
Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease, meaning it can spread from animals to humans. In recent years, it has also begun spreading among people, raising concerns among infectious disease experts about its potential to adapt and become more transmissible and deadly. The virus is transmitted through close contact with an infected person, bodily fluids, and by touching infected objects. Although mpox is endemic to West Africa, the virus caused a global outbreak in 2022 after spreading to other continents.
The current surge, driven by a new strain, is the most alarming since that outbreak. Its continued person-to-person transmission highlights the virus’s evolving nature and reinforces concerns among public health experts about the growing risk it poses beyond its endemic regions.
This outbreak also comes at a time when health systems across Africa are buckling under global cuts to public health funding. Tens of thousands of people have been abruptly cut off from essential health services, and already fragile disease surveillance systems are under further strain. Mpox vaccine supplies remain dangerously low. Women and girls are particularly at risk of being infected because they are often the caregivers in family settings.
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the current mpox outbreak has caused more than 100,000 cases in 122 total countries, including 115 countries where mpox was not previously reported.
In Sierra Leone, CARE is working alongside the National Public Health Agency to curb the outbreak by scaling up infection prevention and control (IPC) measures—promoting handwashing and ways to avoid body contact—enhancing disease surveillance, and leading community-based risk communication efforts. In Liberia, CARE is planning its work alongside the National Public Health Institute of Liberia to curb the outbreak by supporting IPC measures and the dissemination of public education materials in schools and other key public gathering places, where the infection can easily spread.
While the Mpox vaccine has proven highly effective, access remains a major challenge. Sierra Leone has secured about 78,300 doses, prioritizing high-risk groups including health care workers, immune-compromised individuals, and close contacts of confirmed cases. Liberia has received 10,800 doses, with more than 2,000 high-risk individuals — including frontline workers and lab staff — already vaccinated.
“This is not a new disease — we know how to contain it,” Epiagolo added. “Effective strategies like contact tracing, quarantine, risk communication, and targeted vaccination work. But we’re running out of time and resources. In a public health crisis, timing is everything.”
For media inquiries, please contact usa.media@care.org or Brima Abdulai Sheriff, CARE Communications Advisor in Sierra Leone, Brima.Sheriff@care.org